My first sign job was to letter a 1960 chevy panel truck for an electric company here.I was 14 years old made a fast $20 in just 5 days. I knew this was better than mowing a half acre yard that took all day for $1.50. This was the good old days...now 46 years later with all the increases in material and other expenses it seems as if I'm still making that same $20 for 5 days work. Seems like some things never change.
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
hahahahaahahah you might be onto something there!!!! the 1st real sign job i ever did....i musta been 11-14...somewhere in there. there was a guy from our little burg(30-40 homes)who was a hellof an artist(was required in those days)and he needed a space to make a patteren for a couple of billboards he was gona paint. we owned a bar, and right under it was a dance hall/voting hall also. so it was 30'x40' open cept for 2 posts on the 30 so it had 15'x40'. he put down brown butcher paper, HAND DREW ALL OF IT!!! then he pounced it....and then asked me if i wanted to help paint it!!! well hell yae.... it was summer and i was outa school so i spent 4-5 days with him on roadside billboards(these were locally owned and low to the ground)so no fear of falling of the walkway that was on them. he would outline a couple things on the bottom where i could reach and he gave me a mop(big fill brush)and told me to stay in the outlines he did....with the same colors....it was outline... HEEL THIS WAS JUST A KELLERIN BOOK....hahahahaha i fell in lov....and still am.....
Posted by Adrienne Morgan (Member # 1046) on :
One of my first jobs was an a-frame, hand painted with One Shot...I had NO idea how to paint with the stuff....made a big sticky, thick and drippy mess, it was just AWFUL!!!
When I went to deliver it they said it was crap!! (discerning customers) and they wouldn't pay for it...(I wouldn't have either).I kept it around a long time to remind me of why I should stick with windows until I learned how to hand letter...lol!!
Now I got me a plotter.. ..haha!
A:)
Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
My first job ummmmmmmmmmmmm can't recall, but remember doing striping stuff in high school at 5, 10 and 15 bucks a car and making around $60 a week. Grumbacher swords back then were around a buck and my parents were very helpful. Customers used to pick me up and bring me to their vehicles or I'd bicycle there.
Posted by Jill Marie Welsh (Member # 1912) on :
Mine was doing window work with poster paints in high school. There was evan a contest to paint the best-looking store windows in a strip mall at Christmas, which my girlfriend and I won. (I designed, she filled in) It was $100. That got me two more holiday type jobs at restaurants for $50 each. (5 windows per) One of the Pittsburgh Pirates was eating at the restaurant and paid me $50 to come to his house to paint ONE window. I then moved on to signs. love....jill
Posted by bruce ward (Member # 1289) on :
my first job was an office supply place called the "officcenter" I was given a business card by the owner while installing a sign next door to her place.
i got back to the company I was working for and theywere having a "let our employees go party" and I was invited. I went back the next day and took that ladys order. I charged $150 for 2 2'x 8; 1/2" MDO signs fully painted, I dont think I made a dime but I sure did have fun
Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
The first one I can recall is a set of family crests for a ski lodge here in New Hampshire I did back in 1984. Celeste and I were living in Massachusetts and used to spend weekends there during the summer with "the gang".
All these years later, the building has changed hands a few times, but the crests are still hanging along the top of the building.
Wish I held up as well... Rapid
Posted by Patrick Whatley (Member # 2008) on :
My very first signs were for a motorcycle shop to advertise which bikes were on sale at the county fair. 28"x44" showcard, a different illustration and about 11,000 words on each. Being the novice genius that I was I thought it would look cool to do those 11,000 words in Times Roman using a stencil. Took me two weeks to do six of them, got them delivered after pulling an all-nighter.
Took my hundred dollar bill from the salesman who was laughing because their usual sign guy never put all that small stuff on there and charged $75 per sign. I walked out knowing why all the sign painters I knew were drunks.
Posted by bruce ward (Member # 1289) on :
I would like to take this moment and thanks Aronov Realty for all the free MDO in my early days of signpainting....Of course Im sure Im not the only one Posted by Nancy Beaudette (Member # 1983) on :
A few years back I made this piece for my office as an ode to my signmaking roots. The old country store in the photo had been closed down long before I completed this masterpiece. I was 13, it was halloween night, and I had a spray bomb! All these years later I jokingly refer to it as my first job. The map in the sign collage points to the property where Noella and I started our business. Old Innis 'Mac'MacGregor, who owned the farm where we lived, was a mentor and a friend and holds a place of honour in this sign as well. Posted by Wayne Webb (Member # 1124) on :
My first "sign" might have been when I won the poster contest at my elementary school. It was in second grade so I don't remember if it was 5 or 10 bucks.
The next one I remember was when I was going into the "worm" business raising and selling wigglers to fisherman. That sign sold me alot of worms.
Posted by Robert Cole (Member # 477) on :
Ah YES! The year? 1960 I was a Junior in H.S. and my art teacher had a summer job at the local amusement park. Idora Park, for those of you who may be able to remember back to bye gone days in the little town of Youngstown, Ohio. People came from many miles around to this wonderful little oasis of fun. This park was built in the early 1910's. It had a rich history of bringing happiness and a feeling of family to all who spent time there. I spent my entire youth running through the park like setting, and enjoying the rides.This park was built and run long before the MEGA amusement parks of today with there slick new fangled roller gliders. This park was on the national registry for having (2) of the best and fastest ALL WOOD roller coasters in the country. And it was only 10 blocks from my house. Sadly the park is NO MORE! A major fire destroyed much of the park in the mid 1980's, and the family that owned the park was under insured. Thus the demise of a truly classic amusement park. BTW the carousel that was a focal point of the park was saved from the fire and was sold to a group somewhere in New York State I believe.
ANYWAY: I was asked to repaint the miniature golf ticket office and the big sign that invited people to come and play. i used some artists brushes that my mom bought for me at the local 5ç & 10ç store {remember those ?}. The art teacher provided the house paint to do the lettering. It only took me 3 days to letter the signs, and I got about $25.00 for the whole job. I was one happy kid. This led to several other jobs that summer. I never picked up a brush again, or did any other lettering for more than 25 years. My life took a different turn. But it never ceases to amaze me the way that God has this BIG plan for your life, and sometimes it takes MANY years for you to see the "path". Here I am 22 years into my Sign career, and sometimes I can't remember doing anything else. Though there have been MANY YEARS, and MANY jobs that have brought me to this place I call home today. It has been a GREAT ride. Looking forward to the wonders of today. Posted by Jon Jantz (Member # 6137) on :
Bruce, thanks for using my credit with Aronov Realty. I feel better now. I made two 4x8 signs for them for a piece of property they were selling down here in Brewton, AL.
Waited and waited for my money... the guy that ordered them quit the company, nobody else knew anything about them... yada yada yada..
Never did get paid for them, should've taken 'em to court I guess. The property sold and the signs disappeared before I could go spray nasty graffiti on them...
Posted by Craig Sjoquist (Member # 4684) on :
IN 1975 had a just gotten a retail store going artist friend tryed to do the sign but sign inspector said no blah blah must be owner to do it without a permit ....so sign & paint supplier was across street told me a bunch of what to use did my store wow it looked great and did good business, next door said do same for his store and did the next yr did another for him and threw that yr I hussled signs worked with airbrush guy who gave up I did not then went to school after a few signs looked like garbage cause I knew I do better if I had some education ...and drawing homes and buildings was not for me cause I really wanted to be outside .....THANK YOU & ENJOY LIFE
Posted by Ricky Jackson (Member # 5082) on :
I did my first job right after I got married, almost 34 years ago. My wife worked as a bookkeeper for a plantation (21,000 acres) in south Ga. They were opening a pecan division and needed some signs made. My wife told them "My husband is an artist; he can paint signs". I figured out what it should cost me and I guestimated how long it would take and I bid the job and got it. I used 2" trim brushes and black enamel house paint on aluminum or something. I penciled the layout and lettered it. They already had the layout so that part was easy. The job turned out pretty good and they were very happy. I made about 3x the amount I was making on my regular job so the light went on and the rest is history.
Posted by Bill Wood (Member # 6543) on :
KEEP THOSE STORIES ALIVE... They are so awesome and very interesting to read about. We as professionals should never give up due to our losses...but just go back in time and rember where we started from.All of us have made this journey to achieve perfection...I think we've made it.
Posted by Russ McMullin (Member # 5617) on :
I guess it was about 1990 when I painted a 3'x4' A-frame sign for my friend. He was just getting his mechanic shop up and running, and needed advertise oil changes. I built the sign (like a tank), painted it white and then applied stencils for the copy. My friend had told me to use 1-shot so I hunted around until I found an automotive paint store that carried it. I think I built and painted the sign on the balcony of my college apartment.
I talked with my friend a few months ago, and he said he still has the sign. He uses as a walkway near his cow barn, but he says if he cleaned it off, it would still be perfectly good. Pretty funny.
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
Keywords: First, Sign, and Paint.
The first sign that I ever painted was just a few months ago believe it or not.
One of my regular customers that usually gets vinyl stuff wanted a sign for his building (in a storage "mall"). He hands me the board he wanted to use - OSB - fabulous. Well, of course vinyl isn't gonna stick to it so I figure hey, let's give this paint stuff a shot! hehehehe.
Hmm one problem... never handlettered before.. no worries, a vinyl paint mask should stick just well enough to fill in the letters. It did but because it was OSB, some of the paint ran out past the mask in the little channels.
I got another lesson in going back and trimming out letters to straighten the edges up. hahaha
Oh what fun.
Posted by Tony Vickio (Member # 2265) on :
My first "paying" job is described in the first chapter of my book, "The Tales of the Famous". It is interesting! Click on the link, if it doesn't come up, email me and I will send it!
web page Posted by Joey Madden (Member # 1192) on :
Fantastic story Tony, a great read. Looking forward to the book Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
Either you guys are chicken, or cameras hadn't been invented yet when you did your first signs. Here's my first ones...I was in grade 10...1970. Do you think maybe Mike Stevens adopted my use of negative space. By the next year, color pictures had been invented and I had an easil in the basement and I did my first Vehicle... I kept much better records of my work back then...not like now, where I hardly ever get pics of our finished jobs.
[ August 21, 2006, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Duncan Wilkie ]
Posted by Dusty Campbell (Member # 4601) on :
First sign I painted would have been summer between 4th and 5th grade, so ...77,78,79 carry the one, find the numerator... Summer of 1984.
My neighbor was a teacher, and I helped decorate her classroom. I used an opaque projector to do some things. The only one I can remember is the label from an Elmer's glue bottle. I also remember using a press that you could cut about 3 or 4 inch letters out of construction paper. I got paid some small amount like 10 bucks or something.
The next thing I can think of as a paying art job was in high school, a girl wanted King Tut on the back of her leather jacket. I think I got $75 to do that.
I can't remember the first sign I made at a sign shop, but that would have been vinyl anyway. And I can't remember the first painted sign I did at a sign shop either. Here is the first painted sign I did as my own company.
It was originally hung on a dark green painted brick building where the bracket looked more appropriate. They moved after the sign was up for a week, so the only picture I have is at night just after I hung it. They didn't want to pay me to move the sign, so I had nothing to do with the post.
Posted by John Lennig (Member # 2455) on :
Duncan, love those old vans! and is that part of your Basement Still, the big honkin' copper pipe, i mean!
john
Posted by Arvil Shep' Shepherd (Member # 2030) on :
The first "Sign" that I can remember painting was around 1951....it was a neighbors rural mail box..I lettered it with my Aunts Fingernail Polish....lol.lol....
One of the first Wall Signs I painted is pictured below...the date was Dec 20 1956......did all by myself from 24 foot straight ladders......on a rough a** Cinder Block Surface......in Elkin NC
Can't believe it has been almost 50 years ago....
Ask Bill Wood about some of the experiences we had with Charlie Taylor at Flay Williard Neon Sign Co in Winston-Salem NC......back in the 60's and 70's.....
Shep'
Posted by Jon Butterworth (Member # 227) on :
My "Signwriting Career" started in the late 50's while I was still in College. Memories are fading like the photos, but I think the first paying job was an 8x4 Real Estate sign. It was for a family friend. Took over a week after school hours and all the lettering was clearfully drawn in before filling in with "artists" brushes and house paint. It wasn't until many years later I discovered quills. It did include an illustration of the finished condo project. Price? Probably cents/hour if I remember the time and effort involved.
My first "dimensional" sign was a layered plywood school crest. The red/white horse's head and scroll where cut out and glued to the Green 4x4 background. I didn't get payed for this one, but it was still there 30 years later in the school hall when I went back for a renunion!
That handsome young dude 4th from left back row is Bushie^ minus the beard
It wasn't until 1976 I went signwriting full time for a living and started a business with my younger brother.
As you can see, my lettering had progressed from Block and Roman I was taught at school! A "Letraset" catalogue was now my font bible:)
Posted by Marty Happy (Member # 302) on :
When I was 14 my dad brought home and weathered piece of plywood and asked me to paint a sign for a cattle auction market that he worked at. I painted it with paints and brushes that were laying around my dad's shop at the farm. I never took a photo of it but I remember the bright yellow background and red block lettering. It was up at that auction for years.
And so began my sign painting career. I lived in the sticks of East Central Saskatchewan and I was solidly self-employed by the time I graduated high school.
It was years later that I discovered that there was even such a thing as 1-Shot or special lettering brushes. I used hardware store enamels and some of those signs are still working in that area. I cringe to see them because I have progressed so much design/layout-wise.
Some days I'm amazed that I have always managed to support myself as an artist/sign-maker without any formal art education. I didn't even have art classes in high school. In fact I planned on becoming a journalist. I guess in a way I still am because I still write words to inform the public.
I've been very fortunate to have fallen into this career quite serendipidously. I can't imagine doing anything else!
Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
MY first job was a pair of truck doors, all block letters with a shadow. Not knowing about sign paints or even lettering brushes, it took three days, but I really enjoyed it. After learning how to letter and what the right equipment was, the same job took less than three hours.
Posted by bill riedel (Member # 607) on :
MY first job was a pair of truck doors, all block letters with a shadow. Not knowing about sign paints or even lettering brushes, it took three days, but I really enjoyed it. After learning how to letter and what the right equipment was, the same job took less than three hours. After going into my own business, the best I was able to do was as many as eight pair of truck doors in one day.
Posted by Duncan Wilkie (Member # 132) on :
Big Top John asked me to post this for him... "the first money i ever made painting signs"
In 1963, i was 2 months into a 1 year signpainting course at San Diego City College...18yrs old. Customer supplied paper...11"x30" approx. lettered with Sherwin-Williams showcard colour...keep "crawling", found out paper was slightly "waxed" lol! anyway, 2 banners for 75 cents!I was in heaven. I had been working since i was 12, lawn mowing work, but this lettering was SO MUCH FUN! Next was a Big $$$ job, repaint d/s metal sign 10.00! I mounted the 75 cents on a piece of showcard, a reminder of when it all started!
John
Posted by Katie Gillen (Member # 5843) on :
My first job--this last summer I painted my friend's hotair balloon trailer--I started at 9:30 on a Saturday and stopped at 8 P.M...now when I make it home next I'll do the finishing touches...i.e., shading on the balloons themselves.[IMG]http://www.letterhead.com/album/BullBoard/hotair.jpg [/IMG]
Posted by Katie Gillen (Member # 5843) on :
Posted by Brad Farha (Member # 931) on :
My first sign painting job was to paint white lettering on three pickups and a box truck for a contractor. I got some white oil base enamel from a hardware store along with a couple of brushes and went at it. As you might expect, the job looked like it was done by an amateur, but the contractor hadn't expected any more than that, so he was happy. I did the job over the weekend on the contractor's lot and he paid me $800 Monday morning. I was 16 years old. It wasn't until 5 years later that I even considered going into the sign business.
Posted by Bill Biggs (Member # 18) on :
My first signs were done for Piggly Wiggly in Jonesboro Arkansas,1949. My older brother and I did four windows each, each week for 25 cents a window. They would say T-bone Steak lb. 79 or Tide Giant size 59 etc. I was 10 and he was 12. I had to stand on a milk crate to letter. we used tempra paint and we had to remove the old one before painting the new. At that time I think 50 cents an hour was a good wage. Of course my dad and his twin brother were in the sign business together. Biggs Twins Sign and Display. They never missed the tempra paint and brushes (my uncle was a shocard artist) My dad ran the business and helped us learn by giving us the supplies. They split up when my dad moved to Texas. I always thought my brother and I would end up in business together, but he Left the Airforce straight into NASA where he found his niche in the world. Bill
Posted by David Harding (Member # 108) on :
In the early '70s, I would spend hours mesmerized at the local sign painter’s shop, watching Bernie Manley effortlessly create all sorts of layouts. A patient man, he tolerated my incessant questions and gave me many pointers. What didn’t sink into my young brain was that the easier an old master makes something appear, the harder it probably is to accomplish. The time came when I sold my first painted sign.
I went to the supply house, bought some 1 Shot, brushes, thinner, Stabilos, fine line tape, and a panel. I laid everything out, dipped my brush in the paint, paletted it out, and proceeded to make the most awful looking mess I’d ever seen. After several more attempts, I cleaned it all off, went back to the supply house, bought plastic letters and glued them on, giving the customer much more than his twenty bucks covered.
Those who truly appreciate aesthetics are eternally grateful that my sign painting career ended right there.
Posted by Monte Jumper (Member # 1106) on :
Oh yeah I remember it like yesterday...It was a 4'x8' rough old piece of plywood on a street corner out front of a gas station ...it had the "dead sea scrolls" on it listing everything the guy could think of that he offered.
I did the whole thing in a casual "style" haha and he paid me $50.00 ...good money back in 1964 it was enough to let me know I picked the right profession. (even if it did take me two days to complete)
Grady Gordon (my first mentor)gave me an old brush and some paint to do it with.
I wish I still had the picture...but the picture is still fresh in my mind ...complete with the paint stain on the ground that I used a gallon of mineral spirits on trying to clean it up.
Virginity is a wonderful thing to loose!
Posted by Dan Sawatzky (Member # 88) on :
I did my very first paid sign painting job back in December of 1969. I was 15 at the time.
My brother had won a competition with a window painting advertising a local ski event and a light went on in my head. I could make MONEY doing this!
I dug out my mom's collection of old Christmas cards (she always saved them for some reason) and used them to inspire the designs for a selection of window designs. I did them in a hardcover book which had blank pages. Then I hitch hiked into town and did cold calls, selling these designs to the merchants. I only sold each design only once, on a first come fist serve basis. I had a calendar in my book and depending on the size of the window booked one or two jobs each night after school.
That first year I made over $700 - double that the next year... BIG MONEY in those days... expecially for a kid who didn't even drive yet.
The first paying job was for a local grocer... I got paid a WHOPPING $10... but did the job in less than two hours. He was happy... I was DELIGHTED! It sure beat mowing lawns and shoveling snow out of driveways.
The window was sloped out which made it easy to paint. I laid it out freehand on the outside with a candle. I learned the next year that a small bar of soap would be MUCH easier to get off. I then painted it in reverse on the inside with poster paint.
Here's a pic of my first window...
-grampa dan
Posted by Myra Grozinger (Member # 327) on :
Hi Bill - nice to see you here !
(Bill and I go way back as Winston-Salem sign painters friendly to each other. I even had William, Bill Jr., here working with me when he was a youngster, eons ago)
My first sign was after practicing long hours day after day on newsprint columns with a quill and water based paints. Then I lettered my first sign, black aluminum lettered in white OneShot.
It was awful, I was proud anyway. I knew how hard that had been to do And I got paid and was on my way.
It's amazing to pull out the old albums and look at the pages and pages of stuff I did 25 and more years ago, and to see how the industry and the looks of signs have changed.
Posted by Myra Grozinger (Member # 327) on :
Hi Bill - very nice to see you here !
(Bill and I go way back as Winston-Salem sign painters friendly to each other. I even had William, Bill Jr., here working with me when he was a youngster, eons ago)
My first sign was after practicing long hours day after day on newsprint columns with a quill and water based paints. Then I lettered my first sign, black aluminum lettered in white OneShot.
It was awful, I was proud anyway. I knew how hard that had been to do And I got paid and was on my way.
It's amazing to pull out the old albums and look at the pages and pages of stuff I did 25 and more years ago, and to see how the industry and the looks of signs have changed.
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Sadly the park is NO MORE! A major fire destroyed much of the park in the mid 1980's, and the family that owned the park was under insured. Thus the demise of a truly classic amusement park. BTW the carousel that was a focal point of the park was saved from the fire and was sold to a group somewhere in New York State I believe. ![[Rolling On The Floor]](graemlins/rolf.gif)
